Evolution of Concepts
The primate mind of action-oriented and pushmi-pullyu representations receives a new layer of delayed-action-orientated and then reflection-oriented representations.
Category: Intentionality
The Emotional Mind: The affective roots of culture and cognition
In our new book, we argue that emotional systems are central to understanding the evolution of the human mind (as well as those of our primate cousins).
2. The intentionality of memory
This week, I’m writing a series of posts on my new book Memory: A Self-Referential Account (Oxford University Press, 2019). The post today concerns the content of memories; the topic of chapter three. I defend the view that memories are self-referential in that they represent a property of themselves. Specifically, …
Conference Announcement: Varieties of Intentionality
Dates: Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11 Location: The New School, Arnhold Hall, Room I-202, 55 West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011 Website: www.varietiesofintentionality.com On Friday May 10 and Saturday May 11, there will be a two-day conference at the New School for Social Research, titled “Varieties of Intentionality.” …
2. Valent Representation
Yesterday I promised to give an account of valent representation. This is perhaps the core original idea of the book (though it has precedents in Ruth Millikan’s ‘pushmi-pullyu’ representations (1995) and Andy Clark’s ‘action oriented representations’ (1997)). Essentially, valent representation is representation in a valent (i.e. positive or negative) manner. …
1. A new account of the emotions
Thanks to John and the team for letting me take over the Brains Blog for the week. Over the next five days I’m going to summarise some of the key ideas in my new book The Emotional Mind: A control theory of affective states (Cambridge University Press). The book grew …
Applications of the Account of the Evolution of Representational Decision Making
Today—in my (alas!) last posting—I suggest some ways the account of the evolution of representational decision making laid out in my book (and sketched in outline last time on the blog) can be applied to a number of open questions in philosophy, psychology, and economics. I will focus on three …